religious artwork

RELIGIOUS ARTWORK

The Wari’s, Lords of the Ancient Andes, must have been very religious, I reflected as I wandered through the art exhibit at the Kimbell’s museum in Fort Worth. Most of the ceramics, and textiles on display had a staff deity in some form positioned prominently and elaborately on their surfaces. There were cups, urns and assorted pottery with creative and colorful depictions of various forms of the staff deity and his companions. The deity was woven into tunics and gloves. Art work on ear ornaments also displayed the deity’s image. There were mirrors with the deity’s likeness on the backside filled in with shells, and precious stones. Very pretty, and I’m sure they were sold, custom made,  at the local Niemen Marcus , not  massed produced for the local Wal-Marts. There were even little table top representations also painstakingly made of wood, stone and precious shells and gems.  Pocket sized jade figurines were also present to carry with them. Yes, the Wari were reminded of one or another of their deities at every turn. They must have really honored and revered him/them.

I wondered, as I moseyed through the museum, how the generations a thousand years from now would view our religious beliefs when they stumbled on a treasure of our art work they unearthed in some cave or unexpectantly abandoned city destroyed by nuclear warfare, tsunami , earthquake, comet or some other  unknown catastrophe.

When they excavate our pottery, dinnerware, cloths, purses and jewelry would they get a grasp of our deep faith? Would they get the correct impression of us? When I go the mall, department store, Family dollar, on line shopping or craft shows I see many objects with evidence of our convictions. Blankets, purses, necklaces, baseball caps, statues ect. with crosses emblazoned on them. Not just crosses, the blessed mother of Jesus is an iron on applique on baseball caps, purses have gem stone crosses fastened to their sides, tall candles have glued on glittery haloed Jesus’.  At cemeteries how many corpses would they disentomb to discover smothered with otherworldly tattoos and say to themselves, “Wow they really loved their God.”

I’m sure they would imagine we were a very devout society based on their archeological finds.  But I live in the here and now and when I see these religious icons I don’t feel our connection with God. I feel like the massed produced art work is just that and nothing more.  I don’t think the Blessed Mother is honored having her image on a baseball cap of all things.  I see crosses hanging from review mirrors right next to big square fuzzy dice balls. I see cross jewelry on drug dealers, drug addicts, thieves, prostitutes who still live the life style, unrepentantly. Heck my favorite critical opinions are of Madonna and her crosses. It’s not my job to be anyone’s judge, I can’t read the hearts of these people and I can’t always control my own, but I am entitled to discernment.  We’re supposed to draw some conclusions to be able to avoid being corrupted by bad influences, to eschew wolves in sheep’s clothing.

 I think we’ve taken the sacred and downsized it to common everyday artwork.  Our minds have become desensitized to the consecrated message of the cross, that it was the execution device of our Lord and Savior, our sacrificial lamb, that it was the plus sign that adds believers to Jesus’s family. It’s now just something to adorn with diamonds and sapphires. Familiarity breeds contempt. Wearing a cross doesn’t make us sanctified any more than wearing a fur coat makes us a mink.
 

Based on the reality of our artwork is it possible that maybe we’re wrong about the Wari, Lords of the Andes and their dedication to the staff deity?   Maybe to the ancient artisans of that time it was just something to fill their coffers with as it is today for some and also was in the Apostle Paul’s time, who lived just a thousand years earlier than the Wari on another continent.  In the city of Ephesus Paul and his coworkers were nearly killed when Demetrius, a silver smith who made shrines for the Goddess Diana, admitted that the worship of Diana hadn’t hurt his retirement account any and was threatened by Paul and his traveling companions as they preached Jesus and turned some of the populace away from Diana and hence the Ephesian economy.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in the cross and own a few, a very few, myself, but we must be careful to not take the cross and its message for granted for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are saved it is the power of God. I hope that when my home is quarried by archaeologists generations from now I leave the correct impression of my religious believes.
 

Math. 10:16

Acts 19:23-27

Hebrews 5:14

1 corinthians  5:5-12

1 Corinthians 1:18-25